The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says it has partnered with Smart Freight Centre (SFC) to “”provide consistent and transparent CO2 emissions calculations for air cargo shipments. This is an important step for the global air transport sector to advance its decarbonization efforts.”
According to IATA, “The two organizations will focus efforts on developing the cargo component of IATA’s CO2 Connect offering, which successfully launched its passenger version in 2022.” The IATA CO2 Connect platform uses primary industry data to power highly accurate carbon calculations.
The collaboration with the SFC Clean Air Transport Program will promote a common methodology in CO2 emission calculations and ensure accurate and consistent CO2 calculations are distributed to the industry’s biggest shippers and freight forwarders in air cargo, supporting them with pre-shipment and reporting purposes.
Frederic Leger, IATA’s Senior Vice President for Commercial Products & Services said: “Our partnership with the Smart Freight Center will help us to accelerate the development of CO2 Connect for air cargo as the most authoritative tool for carbon calculations. This is important for airlines, shippers and their customers who all need accurate calculations based on real data to support their contributions to global decarbonization efforts.”
Andrea Schoen, SFC Director of the Clean Air Transport program said: “The need for unified emissions data is stronger than ever and this milestone will enable cargo transport service purchasers to make well-founded, long-term decisions. Transparency is key to drive decarbonization investments and activities, encouraging collaborative and synergetic action throughout the value chain.”
IATA and SFC are working with Kuehne+Nagel as a pilot customer for IATA CO2 Connect for Cargo to ensure that the tool meets the needs and requirements of freight forwarders and their customers.
Fabiano Piccinno, Global Head of Sustainability Air Logistics at Kuehne+Nagel said the freight forwarder “can attest to the value that this collaboration will bring to the industry and to our customers. We’re happy to bring our expertise to the table and we look forward to seeing this project paving the way for future sustainable solutions in aviation.”